Introduction
You've probably just typed in some variation on "dream career" into your Google browser and you're likely wondering, what jobs are out there? And how can I figure out a dream career for myself?
If you've reached this page, give yourself a pat on the back for proactively seeking answers on how to find your dream career. What I’ve found through working with dozens of clients to find their dream career over the last four years, is that clarity doesn’t come without action.
Warning!
Before we start to explore your options, allow me to first inform you about something that I think is very important to your career exploration. You may have seen lists of dream jobs as part of this search. You might think that being given a list of dream jobs is a great way to figure out what would work for you. But this strategy isn’t likely to provide you with any immediate clarity.
Why? Because oftentimes these lists focus on external job characteristics such as growing industries or high average pay. They have little to do with what lights you up, what motivates you, and what your talents are.
You’ve also probably noticed that looking at job postings online also doesn’t yield much clarity and scrolling is often frustrating and demotivating. Why is that exactly?
There's just so much out there that if you don't go in with your own set of filters or known requirements, you will wind up on a wild goose chase.
You might also come upon hard requirements for your dream career. They might continue to pop up like air bubbles in a balloon. But as we know with these bubbles, when you push down on one in one place, another only comes up someplace else.
The Car Analogy
Searching for your dream career can be likened to buying a car. You can go through a full roster of different vehicles, taking in information like cost of ownership, gas mileage, car size, etc. But what will matter so much more to your decision to buy a car would really be to understand your own needs before looking at all this information.
Rather than go to different websites and read all the different elements of different cars, better to first understand what you need out of a car.
For example, if you have a big dog, that would become a certain starting point for selecting vehicles. Or, if you wanted to impress potential suitors with a luxury selection or a sporty style, then maybe that would become an important factor. Knowing your own proclivities would be much, much more valuable than merely knowing the miles per litre of gas of a vehicle.
My advice for finding your dream job is very similar to the Ancient Greek aphorism: Know thyself. To find your dream career, you need to start with YOU.
How might this approach look like when applied to different possible jobs?
List of Dream Jobs with Internal Characteristics
YouTube Content Creator
Entrepreneurial.
Prefer to have control over one's own schedule and output, self-motivated.
Unique, creative, with a big imagination.
Enjoy working with technology and different social platforms.
Sense of humour.
Expressive.
Likes to set own hours.
Willing to work hard at and be consistent with one's own projects.
Arborist
Like to be outside.
Likes working alone.
Likes having control of one's own hours.
Learning Designer
Interested in how people learn
Enjoys working with technology
Has some talent in writing and design
Event Planner
Highly organized
Enjoys paying attention to small details.
Dedicated to creating WOW experiences for clients.
Interior Designer
Loves colours, patterns, interiors.
Notices aesthetics everywhere they go
Loves moving their furniture around to create a different atmosphere
Commercial Sales Associate
Loves hanging out with people.
Can discuss various topics without feeling too shy
Charismatic, willing and able to influence and persuade others.
Enjoys having an active social life.
Foley Artist
Love of "MacGuivering" things and problem-solving.
Creative
Enjoys being around creative people
Enjoy some level of structure as they need to work within certain demands
UX Designer
Enjoys having a strong work-life balance
Loves working with technology and thinking about how people think and learn
Press Manager
Willing and able to navigate social territory
Interested in relationship-building.
No problem with small talk but also getting to know others for both personal and business reasons.
Enjoys being around people.
Likeable, caring, and genuine
Loves to host people and/or organize fun events.
How can you get in the driver’s seat of your dream career?
This is all about you! In this first step to figuring out your dream career, the goal is to find out who you are and what makes you unique. Discover (or re-discover) your talents, strengths, top motivators, interests, and values. Ask yourself a lot of questions, and give yourself time to reflect.
Once you’ve identified some of these factors, you can take small steps to test your hypotheses. This might include having a conversation with someone who has been in your desired job, or taking a free course. The important thing is to test out or experiment with doing the job itself in a modest way. For example, if you were interested in video editing, you could try a small volunteer opportunity for a community organization to see how it would feel to do this. As you gain more intel about potential dream careers, you will have more clarity about the path you want to pursue.
Once you've identified the field or the dream career itself, you can start working on the fundamentals of your job search process, livening up your resume, cover letter, and doing some practice runs of anticipated interview questions.
Bonus step! If you'd like some support along the way with attaining your dream career, a career coach can be enormously helpful. A good career coach will help round out your introspective process with questions you may not have thought to ask, assist you with thinking outside the box (and sometimes inside the box), giving you ideas for small actions you can take to test out your theories about your next step, as well as guide and encourage you on what can at times be a challenging process.
Conclusion
By reading this article, you have taken your first steps on the path to fulfilling and valuable work. Congratulations for getting this started!
If you'd like to seek further help with your career exploration, you can book a complimentary consultation with our team at Sunny Side Up Coaching.